Evaluation of breach characteristics of fast reactor fuel pins during steady state irradiation

Oka, Hiroshi*   ; Kaito, Takeji ; Ikusawa, Yoshihisa   ; Otsuka, Satoshi   

The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of a cumulative damage fraction (CDF) analysis for the prediction of fuel pin breach in fast rector using experimentally obtained fuel pin breach data for the first time. Six breached fuel pins were obtained from steady state irradiation in the EBR-II. Post irradiation examinations revealed that FP gas pressure was the main cause of creep damage in cladding, and that the stress contribution from FCMI was negligible. CDFs evaluated for these pins using in-reactor creep rupture equation, taking into account the irradiation history of cladding temperature and hoop stress due to FP gas pressure, were in the range of 0.7 to 1.4 at the occurrence of breach. This shows clearly that fuel pin breach occurs when the CDF approaches 1.0. The results indicate that CDF analysis would be a reliable method for the prediction of fuel pin breach when appropriate material strength and environmental effects are adopted.